Song City at The Ruck in Troy is a Unique Experience in The Capital Region -Scott Womer Interview By: Rob Smittix

RRX: So how long has Song City been going on?

SW: We are actually pretty young, we started in November of last year. Officially the last Song City was number five, it would’ve been number six but the month prior got snowed out. We actually had everything set up and ready to go the night before because I thought if I don’t set up and if the snow doesn’t come I’m screwed. I’d rather set it up and tear it back down the next day than get screwed. Unfortunately it was just one of those things, it was going to put people in danger. A lot of the artists invite their families out to these things, maybe because it’s a better environment than if they were playing a club or something. It’s a little more chill and stuff. So we had to cancel that one. So those four artists I’m booking in the fall. We’re currently booked through June. So June will be the season finally for season one. We’ll take July and August off and September will be episode one of season two.

RRX: Got it.

SW: One of the beautiful things about this area and one of the reasons why I did this is because there are so many great artists and song-writers of all genres. I’m picking what I feel are in the upper 25% of the artists in the area. I mean they’re all great but some just don’t have as much experience and just haven’t really formed yet. You know?

RRX: Totally.

SW: I could book the next two years right now if I wanted to with the list I have. The list is growing constantly. You know this as much as I do. Just in the past month I’ve come across two artists that are local here that I have never even heard of before. When I heard them I thought these are actually two of the best artists, songwriters and musicians that I have ever heard in The Capital District. I never even heard of them, you know?

RRX: I do. That kind of boggles my mind. I don’t know if you seen this, it was about ten years ago or so but… there was a national article that came out and Albany was somewhere within the top five cities in America with more bands than almost anywhere else. They basically were saying that if you’re in Albany, you’re either in a band or you definitely know a few people that are. But I think this extends beyond Albany and into the greater Capital Region.

SW: There are so many bands right now that maybe I heard a little bit of but for whatever reason moved on. Like right now I can’t get enough of that new Bruiser and Bicycle album. That album is one of the best local albums I’ve ever heard on all aspects. I’ve heard them play a couple of times and it just didn’t sink in for whatever reason and then I heard this and it’s as good as anything I’d hear anywhere.

RRX: Absolutely. So what would you say separates Song City from other music series that are out there?

SW: The background of Song City as far as for me… I grew up south of Albany, I played music, got into my twenties and at some point I moved to Nashville and lived in Nashville for 5 or 6 years. That was really just because I wanted to go more into music and it wasn’t that I felt like I was the sh*t. To get picked up by a label is what most artists feel because they’re in a little city and they’re the biggest thing in that city and they go down there and realize there’s thousands of people that do exactly what I do and a lot better. Then they get really depressed. I tried to go into it with an open-mind that I don’t even care if I get discovered or if anybody hears me. I just want to be around really great musicians. That’s really what I wanted was that influence and that education. So I moved down there and all of those things happened. I gained absolutely nothing, I got depressed because no one seemed to care about my music but at the same time I was around the highest level of musicians we have in the world possibly as far as song writers. One of the things that came out of that was I spent a lot of time at The Bluebird Café. Do you know The Bluebird?

RRX: No. I’ve never been to Nashville.

SW: There’s a great documentary I think it’s on Amazon called The Bluebird. It’s also featured in that TV series that was out for a while called Nashville. Most of what happened in the series happened at the Blurbird Café. It’s the most undescript little bar and grill café that you’d ever see. It’s in a strip mall next to to like a beauty salon and a dry cleaner. But inside it’s pretty rustic, it kind of reminds me of The Ruck or some place like that. The Bluebird is mostly about in the round song-writing circles and talking about the writing behind it. It’s quaint and it’s cool. It’s actually a place where people would go in and play and there would be label-heads and publishers. That’s where Taylor Swift got discovered because a label-head happened to be at The Bluebird. Keith Urban got signed for playing at The Bluebird and on and on.

RRX: Sounds like a great energy there.

SW: It’s amazing. I used to go there on a regular basis and always kind of loved the community feeling of these four artist that may or may not even know each other. They would do these rotations, going around in a circle and they’d each play a song. I always had that in the back of my mind as something I’d love to see happen on a local basis. I’m a Troy guy, I’ve been in Troy eight years now, I live downtown and spend a lot of time at The Ruck. They used to do a lot of music there before Covid and they just wanted to get up and running again. So Dave the owner of The Ruck came to me and asked would I be interested in hosting an open mic? I was like yeah absolutely. Then they asked if I could also book some bands, I said I’d love to. Then I told them I’ve had this idea about this song circle. They said yeah that sounds good, let’s try it out! Go ahead, we’ll give you the space, it’ll bring people in on Tuesdays and we all win! It just took off. I put tickets on sale for Song City one week before the event and most of the time it sells out in the first 24 hours.

RRX: You’re doing something right!

SW: Thanks so much for your support of Song City and local music! The next Song City will be Tuesday, May 9th, 8pm at The Ruck, 104 3rd Street in Troy.

Tickets go on sale on May 2nd.
Tickets are $10 and are bought on Venmo (songcitytroy)
May 9th Song City Artists:
-Reese Fulmer
-Julia Alsarraf
-Jimi Woodall (from Dark Honey)
-Ben Seretan
For more information on Song City: Instagram:@songcitytroy

SW: The other thing I should mention is Song City presents open mic at The Ruck on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 8pm. The open mic is called The Open Floor. We have a lot of local artists/song writers show up. I don’t book writers for this. Anyone can play. The first half of the night is artists playing an original song. The second half of the night is called the Song Challenge. On the first day of each month I post a phrase on the Song City Instagram page. The writers have from then until the open mic on the 4th Tuesday, to write a song with that phrase in it. For instance, the Song Challenge phrase for April’s open mic was “I fell for you in terrible lighting.” So the second half of the night is people playing their song that has that phrase in it. It’s incredible.

The vibe of The Open Floor is similar to Song City. Instead of one mic up front, we have 3 chairs and mics up there. Writers come up in groups of three and each play a song. This not only creates a more inviting, community-based atmosphere, but also cuts down on all the wasted time that happens between each song at a normal open mic.